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18-677: Moûtiers is the main access point to the Les Trois Vallées ski region in the French Alps . Its railway station , although not on a high-speed rail line, is consequently a seasonally important destination for TGV services from Lyon , Paris and elsewhere, including abroad. Moûtiers is located deep in the Tarentaise Valley . It is its geographic capital, between Albertville and Bourg-Saint-Maurice . Several popular French ski resorts are located in its vicinity. The Isère flows through

36-406: A smaller vehicle like a Side-by-Side UTV or snowmobile can be used for maintaining narrow paths, laying Nordic cross-country ski trails, or fatbike trails. These compact snow groomers make corduroy trails where a large snow groomer cannot access. Snow farming is the use of obstacles, equipment and knowledge about management of snow in order to strategically manipulate snow coverage. Often this

54-601: A tractive force of up to 4.8 tonnes, winches can support the machines on steep slopes. Snow groomers warn skiers and snowboarders with visual or acoustic signals. Groomers are mostly sent out during the night time after the close of the ski area so as not to interfere with daily and night skiing . Due to their mobility and low ground pressure (typically 0.040 to 0.060 kg/cm (about 4 to 6 kN/m ) snow groomers are sometimes used elsewhere, e.g. for agricultural purposes, moving bulk goods, working on peat bogs or at biogas sites. Snow grooming equipment towed by

72-590: A wide "corduroy" area that allows skate-skiing plus classic ski tracks, imprinted with specialized ski guides. Manufacturers include Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug (Germany), Prinoth (Italy), Tucker Sno-Cat (US), the Ohara Corporation (Japan), Zaugg (Switzerland), Favero Snow Tech (Italy) and Aztec/CM Dupon (France). Snow groomers can handle very steep gradients due to their low centre of gravity and large contact area, but they can also be assisted by winches . Using cable lengths of up to 1,200 metres and

90-829: Is a ski region in the Tarentaise Valley in the Savoie department of Southeastern France , to the south of the town of Moûtiers , partly in Vanoise National Park . Since 1971, it has been possible to ski the interlinked valleys using a single ski pass. Thus, Les Trois Vallées is the largest connected ski area in the world which is linked solely by ski lifts and slopes. It claims to have about 600 km (370 mi) of ski slopes, resulting in 18.5 km² of groomed runs, while an independent expert measured about 493 km. In addition, there are 120 km for cross-country skiing. Les Trois Vallées has 183 ski lifts, which can transport 260,000 skiers per hour. Other equipment owned by

108-478: Is done for the purpose of skiing or even preventing snow drift in certain areas like roads. The most popular obstacle is the snow fence , which is used to create drifts and collect more snow in a given area than would otherwise naturally occur. The snow can be moved to other areas and groomed with the use of a snow groomer. Sometimes the snow fence is readily movable in order to maximize the collection of blown snow, despite wind direction changes. In Mora, Minnesota,

126-478: Is used to maintain ski hills, cross-country ski trails and snowmobile trails by grooming (moving, flattening, rototilling , or compacting) the snow on them. A variation of the technique is used to construct snow runways in Antarctica. A snow groomer is usually employed to pack snow and improve skiing and snowboarding and snowmobile trail conditions. The resulting pattern on the snow is known as corduroy , and

144-468: Is widely regarded as a good surface on which to ski or ride. Snow groomers can also move accumulated snow made by snow machines as part of a process, called "snow farming". A snow groomer (informally called a "piste basher" in the United Kingdom) is a tracked vehicle equipped in front with a shovel (or dozer blade) and behind with a cutter (or roller). It is usually driven by diesel engines. When

162-602: The Maurienne valley . It is adjacent to Val Thorens, but can also be accessed using a long gondola lift from Orelle . The following ski resorts are in Les Trois Vallées: Within the Tarentaise Valley , there are various other resorts such as Paradiski ( Les Arcs , La Plagne ) and Espace Killy ( Val d'Isère and Tignes ). A weekly lift ticket in Les Trois Vallées used to allow one to ski one day in each of

180-549: The annual Vasaloppet USA cross-country ski race would be in jeopardy without the use of snow farming to compensate for the lack of natural snow in recent years. Snow grooming is used in construction and maintenance of airstrips to support research stations in Antarctica . U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) researchers described the engineering parameters necessary to make improvements to natural snow for use in landing fields. One level of improvement

198-491: The course of the French Revolution , Moûtiers was renamed Mont-Salins following an order by Antoine Louis Albitte . On 3 January 1796, the name Moûtiers was restored. In 1814, the town was invaded by Sardinians . In 1893, Moûtiers-Salins-Brides-les-Bains station was opened on the line to Bourg-en-Bresse station (reached in 1913). Until 10 September 1926, Moûtiers was a subprefecture of Savoie, when its arrondissement

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216-460: The machine drives over a snowfield, it pushes snow ahead of it and, at the same time, smooths out any surface unevenness. Snow groomers built for ski slopes employ front mounted, hydraulically operated blades, powered rotary tillers and specialized shaping equipment for not only maintaining ski slopes , but also for building half pipes , terrain parks and snow tube parks. Cross-country skiing trails are also groomed in similar fashion, often with

234-413: The operating companies include 2,300 snow cannons and 73 snow grooming machines operated by 160 snow groomers who work in shifts during the night. Other employees in the area include 424 ski patrollers and 3,000 ski instructors. As implied by its name, the area originally consisted of three valleys: Saint-Bon , Allues , and Belleville . The skiing area has since been extended into a 'fourth' valley,

252-475: The other two systems mentioned although this has now been removed. There were once plans to interlink all systems and resorts to create the – by far – largest ski area in the world. However that vision was ended with the creation of the Vanoise National Park . Snow grooming Snow grooming is the process of manipulating snow for recreational uses with a tractor , snowmobile , piste caterpillar, truck or snowcat towing specialized equipment. The process

270-664: The town. Moûtiers has an oceanic climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfb ) closely bordering on a humid subtropical climate ( Cfa ). The average annual temperature in Moûtiers is 11.9 °C (53.4 °F). The average annual rainfall is 930.4 mm (36.63 in) with December as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 21.7 °C (71.1 °F), and lowest in January, at around 1.6 °C (34.9 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Moûtiers

288-627: The word " monastery ") from which its later names, Moustiers and finally Moûtiers , were derived. Moûtiers was the episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tarentaise . The archdiocese was disbanded in 1801; it was re-established as the Diocese of Tarentaise. This diocese was united with the Diocese of Chambéry and Diocese of St-Jean-de-Maurienne to form the Diocese of Chambéry, Maurienne and Tarentaise . On 16 October 1793, in

306-526: Was 42.0 °C (107.6 °F) on 7 July 2015; the coldest temperature ever recorded was −18.2 °C (−0.8 °F) on 15 January 1966. Moûtiers was the capital of the Ceutrones , a Celtic tribe of Gaul . Its antique name, Darantasia , appears on a surviving ancient Roman road map known as the Tabula Peutingeriana . In a medieval text dating from 996, Moûtiers was called Monasterium (root of

324-521: Was merged with the arrondissement of Albertville , retaining the former name. The town hall moved to the former subprefecture site shortly thereafter. Today, the town has a small historic centre with narrow streets surrounding Saint-Pierre Cathedral . It hosted the television display for the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville . Les Trois Vall%C3%A9es Les Trois Vallées ( French pronunciation: [le tʁwɑ vale] ; "The Three Valleys")

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